Omicron (Ο, ο) is the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter ʿayin (eye). Its name means “small O” (ὂ μικρόν), distinguishing it from the long vowel omega (Ω, ω). In the classical Attic numeral system, omicron carries the value 70, a number associated with completion and the seventy elders of Israel, as well as with the seventy names of God in certain Kabbalistic traditions.

Position on the Tree of Life

Omicron occupies Path 26 on the Tree of Life, the twenty‑sixth path that connects the Sephirah Netzach (Victory) to Yesod (Foundation). This path is attributed to the Hebrew letter Ayin (ע), which shares the same Phoenician origin as omicron and also means “eye.” The correspondence underscores the idea of vision, perception, and the ability to see beyond the veil—a theme that runs through the symbolic history of both letters.

Historical context

In Greek magical papyri and early Christian gnostic texts, omicron often appears as a divine monogram or as part of the seven vowels that represent the planetary spheres. Each vowel was linked to a celestial body: omicron, as a short vowel, was sometimes associated with the Moon or with the sphere of the fixed stars, though its precise attribution varied by school. The letter’s shape—a simple circle—echoes the concept of the unmanifest, the primal point, or the ouroboros. In the context of the Greek alphabet as a whole, omicron is the first of the two “o” sounds, the other being the long omega, and thus it represents the beginning of vocalic expression that later opens into the infinite.

Within the Qabalistic tradition as systematized in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Greek alphabet was mapped onto the 32 paths of the Tree of Life. Omicron, placed at Path 26, corresponds to the Tarot trump The Devil (Ayin), a card that embodies materiality, bondage, and the illusion of the senses—yet also the potential for liberation through clear sight. The “eye” symbolism of omicron/Ayin is central: the eye that sees the world as it is, and the eye that can perceive the divine spark within matter.

In Liber 777

In Crowley’s Liber 777, the table row for the Greek Alphabet assigns omicron to the twenty‑sixth scale step (Path 26). This placement aligns it with the Hebrew letter Ayin, the number 70, and the Tarot key The Devil. The cell value is simply the letter itself, «Ο ο», but its correspondences ripple outward through the entire system: the planet Saturn (in some attributions), the zodiac sign Capricorn, and the sense of sight. Omicron here is not merely a character but a glyph that condenses a whole web of magical and philosophical meaning.